Diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) neared agreement on a harsh rebuke of Iran for blocking a UN probe of its suspect nuclear activities, despite lobbying by Tehran to tone down the reprimand.
Delegates representing some of the 35 nations at the IAEA board of governors' meeting said on Tuesday that the newest draft, written by Germany, France and Britain, would likely be formally accepted in the next day or two.
Even though the draft does not directly threaten sanctions, its tough wording amounts to substantial pressure on Iran to clear up aspects of what was a covert nuclear program for nearly 20 years until it was discovered two years ago.
Compared to an earlier version, the new draft tones down demands on Iran to abort plans to build a heavy-water reactor and slightly modifies language taking Tehran to task for hampering the IAEA probe.
But the overall wording remains tough.
One key phrase "deplored" Iran's spotty record on cooperating with the agency -- strong wording in diplomatic language. Other omissions by Iran are noted with "concern," or "serious concern."
no trigger
The draft contains no deadline or "trigger mechanism" as sought by the US and its allies that could set into motion possible sanctions if Iran continued its foot-dragging past a certain date.
Still, in an apparent nod to the US, Canada, Australia and other nations favoring action instead of words, the draft contrasts the "passage of time" -- a year since the IAEA probe began -- with the still-blurry contours of Iran's nuclear program.
A diplomat -- speaking like all delegates on condition of anonymity -- said that Washington recognized it could not now get majority board support for a direct or implicit threat of UN sanctions.
Instead, the diplomat said, the US was waiting for new revelations about Iran's nuclear program to surface at the next board meeting in September that will increase sentiment to find the country guilty of contravening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That could result in referral to the UN Security Council, which could then impose sanctions.
The results of analysis of enriched uranium traces found on military sites in Iran and now being evaluated by the agency could provide the trigger in September, the diplomat said, adding it could support suspicions that Tehran enriched uranium domestically.
Iran, which denies working on enrichment beyond the experimental stage, says minute finds of enriched uranium -- which include minute amounts at weapons-grade levels -- within the country were not domestically produced but inadvertently imported in purchases through the nuclear black market.
The other main agency concern is ambiguous, missing or withheld information on the scope of Iran's centrifuge program, used to enrich uranium.
Under international pressure, Iran has suspended uranium enrichment and stopped building centrifuges. It has also allowed IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities without notice. But recent revelations have raised new suspicions.
magnets
An IAEA report, written by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, says Iran inquired about buying thousands of magnets for centrifuges on the black market -- casting doubt on Iranian assertions that its P-2 centrifuge program was purely experimental and not aimed for full uranium enrichment.
In desperate efforts to sway the meeting, the Iranian delegation met privately with ElBaradei on Tuesday and lobbied with the chief delegates of the three European nations who wrote the draft, a diplomat close to the agency said.
Publicly, Tehran protested its innocence.
"We have no plans to produce weapons and all of our activities are for peaceful purposes and nothing is wrong," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Tuesday in Istanbul.
But in Vienna, Kenneth Brill, the chief US delegate to the IAEA, said Washington remained convinced that Iran was "trying to hide ... a weapons program."
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